Halo AU: New Vegas
by Evident Disaster
Summary: The UCAF forces battle for control, but when a helldiver is thrown into slip-space, what happens when he lands in the deserts of the Mojave? Well here comes the story of the bringer of Justice and his search for a way home. CH3, Sunsets...
1. Chapter 1

Halo: New Vegas

In the year 2551, the UCAF (united colonial alliance forces) fight a war against impossible odds, the UCAF defends the human race within the Nova Stratus in a bloody and brutal war which has consumed the lives of billions of innocents. The human race faces a destructive end to which it perseveres to survive against the impossible.

However as the beginning of new decade comes to dawn the UCAF prepares for a devastating attack which will save the human alliance…

(This isn't necessary to read, it's only the summary of the backstory to the UCAF, you can skip to the beginning of the chapter.)

UCAF chronological data- ACCESS GRANTED

Date of admission- Published 2221- Updated 2521- Modified 2555

/Memo/ -Dr Valerie E Haley  
>To those who read this chronological archive of the UCAF you may require to read the UCAF foundation records and past ICA records in order to understand this, please note that all archives were accessed and modified by me, and any confidential data seen may or may not be factual as there have been continuity issues through the UCAF archives since 2399. All data regarding specific structures and organisations will be recorded in their own separate sections, please also note that this shares archived data on past organisations and records involving the military, economic and historic events and timelines. This information must not be allowed to fall into unwarranted hands due to the sensitivity of the information.<p>

To those who read this, the future is not set, however the past is, heed this warning, and do not make the same mistakes… Semper Fi.

/END/

Index Archives

Factions: Note that some may not exist while others may have disbanded

In the beginning of the new colonies of the Nova Stratus region, there were over 80 known factions in control of the region of space; throughout 2221 the UCAF recorded the 8 main power factions:

Pop: 46 billion, 890 worlds, unknown amount of systems

Imperial Arcadian Empire: The Arcadian Empire was once built over the ruins of a past race that utilised space FTL teleportation; the Arcadians decided to ignore trying to understand the super advanced technology and simply accepted it as a gift from fate. The Empire structured itself on militaristic and imperial beliefs since the early 5th century when the first Arcadians witnessed the first king travel through the gateways with his armies to ascend into godhood. It wasn't until much later that it was discovered to be a teleporter and began to spread news of the new king, and thus over 500 years the Arcadian Empire has stretched far even though not being FTL capable, it encompassed over 172 planets and 5 dozen systems by 2225.

Human Unification Organisation: This faction of power was infamous through the Nova Stratus records as being completely immoral in practices with medicine and genetic manipulation, especially through the early 24th century. The Human Unification was a movement and ideal based on a single mind and body, not literally but metaphorically it meant to bring the human race under one banner and to bring the colonies to improve themselves by adapting their beliefs of improvement through health and genetics, their beliefs were well met, but not widely accepted. The HUO began expansion just 75 years before 2225, it reached over 93 worlds, but had severe restrictions due to non-FTL abilities, but it could communicate to other planets through a unique technological device found on their planet, this communication allowed access to dozens of worlds, but made things arduous as it took years to convince many, and those with them were not as loyal as they had yet to show themselves until 2225.

Imperial Orussian Imperium: The Imperium of the Celestial Tundra is what Orussia essentially means, the Orussians had been formed during the 8th century and continued to evolve into the state that it is, however it is unique due to its amazing bit of genetic evolution. The Orussian people originate on their world of Icarus, frozen tundra of a planet, but they live in underground super cities constructed millennia before their existence, it was said that their gods shaped and created them to do their will. The Orussiuan people were initially suspected to have been cloned, on closer inspection that rumour had become somewhat true, in the earliest days the ICA found that the Orussians were using an alien technology that allowed them to be cloned at nearly instant speeds, it aged the clones to a certain degree before releasing them as perfect replicas, however in the years the Orussians phased out the use of clones as there was no longer a need. Orussian space from records indicated that they possessed 123 worlds.

Independent Colonial Coalition: ICC was not only a formidable power during the early colonial era, but the fact that they had the largest coalition of planets was frightening. The ICC had formed during the late 9th century as the planet of Callistan began to advance; the Callistians had unified and advanced rapidly in technology and science putting their beliefs in religion behind for idealised morals and ethics and beliefs which suited their society. The Callistians recruited a number of neighbouring systems through talk and began to advance into modern 21st century technology by early 11th century, they had covered the areas of technology faster than that of earth, however during the period which became known as the 'colonial age' the Coalition fell apart at the seams as many new colonies wished for independence. For 400 years the ICC was engrossed in civil strife and war, and eventually it fell into a dark age of space. ICC did not reform until late 18th century and only during the 19th did it fully recover to begin again with efforts to reconnect with lost ties. The ICC first developed AI in 2101, and created cybernetics in 2021. ICC planets numbered roughly 180 worlds, however many factions that splintered decreased the numbers down to 50.

Neo Koslovic Separatists: NKS was formed about the same time the ICA was formed and was kept marginally controllable, the NKS however had many flaws in ideals and beliefs and most of the reform was half hearted corrections that worked well to suit certain colonies to join, the efforts it took the NKS to form was staggering and highly costly, the NKS did not survive with its neo communist beliefs as it died out in early 2312. Planets under NKS influence were roughly 45.

United Republic of Calisto: URC was amazingly the wealthiest faction out of the Nova Stratus factions and it was the most developed faction surpassing the ICC, but it was not as expansive as the ICC or the IAE, it took the efforts of the Calisto Strata Cluster 400 years to get to a fully developed point and the URC required to buy most of the FTL technology from the ICC when they encountered each other during the late 18th century. URC was initially 30 systems and 130 worlds but developed heavily into 80 systems and 210 worlds by the end of the 23rd century.

Arian Systems Movement: ASM was notoriously a heavy left hand fascist ruled dictatorship, Arian Molvic was an imperialist ruler who believed heavily in the strength of his people, but also his blood, he was supposed to have died during the 17th century, however with certain technology he had managed to stay alive and active, his rule had been nearly absolute, if it weren't for the many new factions which opposed him during the rise of the 19th century where the ICC and the many rebellion forces began to push forwards with a war on his rule, he was not killed until a single 4 man team infiltrated his palace and managed to slay him in 2332. Number of planets under recorded history is unknown…

Independent Colonial Alliance: ICA was the foremost impressive force of Nova Stratus region because of its FTL and colonisation ability, the ICA formed in 2225 with its position on Anomia and 12 new colonies, it began to garner support over the whole region boasting new technologies from an empire far away on a planet called earth, and thus the ICA began integration in a short 25 years. It continued to expand until it was stopped by the ICC and the IAE during the late 23rd century. The ICA formed 80 worlds and moved upwards since.

Races: This must remain absolutely confidential for the security of the human race and beyond it

Fenrisson: An indigenous species connected to the world of Valence, their discovery was not made until the 15th century by ICC colonial explorer ships. The Fenris have no intentions to join the human race as they had lived in isolation for many millennia, the ICC did not attempt to force borders open and simply remained passive. The Fenris race did not join the human race until late 2400s where the planet suffered a disastrous famine caused from heat of the local star, it had a minor solar flare which lasted 3 months and destroyed over 60% of crops and caused heavy instability in the planet's ecosphere.

Timeline: 2250-2350

ICA formation in Nova Stratus was welcomed by many, the formation of the first new faction since the HUO centuries earlier, the ICA formed with the intent to bring a democratic social order and wealth to the worlds of Nova Stratus, its 110 ships and 1.1 million colonists met with the first Anomians who lived on the new capital and integrated the pre-space capable race into its own. The ICAF was later formed in 2263 in order to defend against possible raids from pirates and slavers.

ICC and the ASM began a conflict when the planet of Vekta was invaded by ASM forces, the ICC responded with a massive fleet strike and soon the far western regions of the Nova Stratus region was engrossed in a war of attrition, it would not end until late 2341.

URC and HUO form a pact of trade in order to maximise their economic standing as the ICC colonial conflict progressed, the pact would last until the rise of the Advent order and the Imperial Vindicators of 2371.

IAE makes a calculated move to engage the ICA in the south east regions of the Nova Stratus regions, the factions face off in a heavy warzone and soon finds themselves battling on equal terms. The ICA only has the advantage of space FTL and weaponry while the IAE only possess the ability to utilise ground troops. The first conflict alerts the ICA to its fragile situation and makes the ICA council partake in a future plan to protect its space.

2350-2450

The ICC becomes united as it celebrates the victory over the ASM and the death of Arian and his rule, the support for the ICC rises and changes in power gives way for change to order. The ICC begins the next stage of development as it moves to unify the western regions of Nova Stratus.

2370 marks the beginning of change as the URC encounters a mysterious unexplored region of Nova Stratus, this isolated region reveals 64 worlds under the control of the Imperial Vindicator order which had taken root nearly a millennia before. The IVO was formed by the ruling emperor Kisage Hotari his empire had been formed through the use of alien technology in 1250. The IVO keeps at distance until offers of trade and expansion are revealed, the IVO accepts in late 2371 when the URC offers to show them regions of recently conquered ASM systems.

ICAF begins rapid expansion across all front as helps in reconstituting the many ASM worlds, the expansion of the ICA grants it access to over 61 worlds and 30 systems, it had covered as much ground in technology as the ICC, but still did not possess a formidable military.

IAE began its intervention into the expansion of the ICA and the confrontation of the IVO, this move made the Nova Stratus region breach a tension point as the IVO found the intrusion an act of stupidity and challenged the IAE in 2375.

The First Colonial War-2375-2385

The ten year period saw to the end of minor instability as the IVO began its first major step into Nova Stratus, and its first major stride into forming the UCA, the IVO engaged in the war with no belief over pride or greed, but purely on the basis of honour. The war went through 50 systems and on 60 worlds; it totalled 18 million lives and 360 billion credits worth of reparations from the IAE to the IVO.

The ICA made contact with the IVO in 2378 and joined the war, the IVO granted the ICA access to military power and technology as well as access to the legendary Vindicator Order. It was at the end of the war that the ICA suggested a combined effort to unite the colonies and bring proper order to all factions with their assistance, there would no longer be conflict, maybe minor apprehension to the idea, but it would work well with the IVO.

The IVO joins the ICA and forms the ICAF…

Second Colonial War-2415-2445

The remnants of the IAE formed into the Neo Imperial Arcadian Empire, and begin another war, the URC step in to assist as hundreds of URC worlds are annexed and the ICC also join. The war goes for over 20 years and brings into play the advanced technologies of the ICC and the IVO creating the MKI Hayabusa powered armour variant suit. The war rages on until the Orussian military joins from its years of isolation. The war escalates with the defeat of the Arcadian Emperor, Magnus Derion on Theta Arcadia.

2450-2525

The UCA is formed in the aftermath of the SCW2 as the ICA no longer was capable of being independent as it had encompassed over 5 major factions of power and over 1200 planets in 2450, the UCAF begins mass expansion and colonisation up until the covenant war.

However things did not stay normal, in 2455 the UCAF was contacted by the Office of Naval Intelligence of the UNSC and was asked into aiding in possible future plans it required. The UCAF was sceptical in accepting the ONI or the UNSC as it had long since ended its ties with earth. But the role of the ONI seemed too good to ignore, the UCAF accepted the terms and conditions and integrated and formed the ONI on Anomia, Hyperion Point base.

2500

The birth of Valerie Haley and the initiation of Project Delta One-

2520

The preliminary stage of development of the Spartan Alpha project and the final steps of Project Delta One, the initiation of Project Rey and Forge

2525

Completion of all assigned task and programs…

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/Memo/ -Aniston Grey- UCAF Rey Project Director

"To those who maybe hearing this message, I warn you about what you will hear and what you will read, this is no story of great honour or faith this was survival, and I'll be damned for those who condemn the actions we took in order to save the human race from extermination at the hands of the covenant… we did not sit on our asses and do nothing, we took the war to our enemies, with fire and vigour, we shall ensure that mankind will live to see the future, even if we do not make that journey. I say this now, 'I have become death, the destroyer of worlds'."

Project Rey: The Rey project was by far the most disturbing project ever undertaken, this child known as Rey -0149 was taken as a child and then genetically cloned with a psychic membrane in his frontal lobe, his genetic augmentations were meant to keep his mind in communication with the other Rey clones, however he suffered severe trauma and went into a coma. His body was cryogenically stored and 5 more clones of him were created in order to test the psycho telepathic communications link.

The link was proven to be highly unstable as the many Rey individuals shared memories and emotions, but also their same creator, their mother. Rey then began to show signs of psychosis amongst the young group as their minds drifted into the mind of Rey-0149 and began to relive dead memories; the ONI took action to severe the link and begins a neuro-telepathic connection to a quantum core in order to avoid any future incidents.

The units after the connection began to act normally passive and engrossed in training, their controlled belief was to die serving and then to end up with their creator in the afterlife, or the quantum core in which their fragmented existence is sent to after their initial deaths, however there was a severe down side to this adaptation, the neural link made the effect of one of the units dying and sent a psycho impulse to all other units warning them of their brothers deaths and making them relieve their deaths inside their own minds. The ONI did nothing to subdue the effects and observed intent on figuring out the working mind of the young Rey clones.

The program did not end until 2601 when the Rey units reached 11,000 units; although of the 11,000 barely 1000 survive up till 2605.

Project Alpha: "They show greater promise than that of Orion, and they show much to be offered to save humanity, it is a cruel truism that I must do this in order to save lives by destroying theirs, but it is a necessary evil that is inexcusable and for what may come I shall eventually pay for it, but till then they are my children, my legacy to humanity for better or for worse, the judgement is made by us as humans to decide upon it. I did what I believed was right, even when they suffered; I did it because it was necessary. Mind, body and soul…" Valerie Haley 2525- A Choice page223

Project Alpha was named in the alpha stages of the Spartan program; it was formed after the failure of Orion and was then used as a template to test the gene-enhancements for the SPII program, Alpha was made in order to ensure that the SPII did not fail, however there were substantial differences in the two programs, the UCAF had funded enough to have 750 candidates aside from the 75 that the UNSC could only afford, the reason being was due to the sheer amount of resources available by the UCAF and the number of highly related gene-strands of precursor DNA that was in the human race in the Nova Stratus region as many humans had been originally altered by the forerunners.

The UCAF had all candidates tested and evaluated over the period of 6 years had had them all take a 3 step initiative into becoming Spartans, the fact remained that some of the chemicals and procedures were far too deadly to perform all at once and it was advised to the ONI that doing so would kill the subjects faster, the process taken by Valerie Haley proved the best option as the program had plenty of time.

The program proved fruitful if not somewhat gruelling, the program produced 690 available Spartans from the 6 year training program and it was less suspicious as to the SPII program, many children were selected from orphanages and certain locations, there was also the fact that those children taken from families were either compliant or unaware of the circumstances involved with their children. The Alpha project moved swiftly and deftly through to the final stages without flaw.

And the program reached its intended goal by the end of 2524 to begin the Ascent Program.

Project Ascent: The Ascent was meant as an inspiration to the new generation at the beginning of 2525, the program was to provide the new powered armour of the UCAF to the Spartans, and it was also to provide Project Rey with the advanced combat skeletons which had been in secret development in the Prodigal System from early 2520. The MKIII series armour was an early prototype suit required to be piloted by a single Spartan occupant, it was a streamlined variant that shaped exactly to that of their bodies, the only flaw was that the suits had bulky designs and irregular joints, it was based off of the Powered Armour of the Vindicators Order, but had to be adapted with the EOD from the Union Specialists program in order to compensate for the lack of shielding from possible enemy fire.

The Ascent Project also featured the research of the MVF-01 series suits, the Mobile Versatile Frames were made as an external support force for the Spartans, it possessed the firepower that the Spartans lacked as well as the shielding, but it could not create a body shield only a bubble area of effect shield. The MVF was first seen in use in the Prodigal system in the first month of the war, there were records that indicated further use, and then afterwards the suits became obsolete during the fall of 2535 when the Mobile Suit program took place.

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Pop: 76 billion, 1780 worlds, 1500+ systems

Timeline-2525-2555

2525- January

UCAF troops are moved to the Prodigal and Haven's Gate, suspicion to many beliefs that there would be an expedition into the further reaches of space garner much support and thus masks the hidden agenda of the UCAF HIGH COM in its pursuit of hiding the truth of the situation.

Spartan Alpha is moved to Haven 2 days later and begins the final armament procedure before they reach Seti Etha.

Prodigal final checks completed and all MVFs had been fully prepared, only 1 capable pilot is used in the program and is set out to test in field.

5th of January brings the heralds of unknown contacts in orbit over the Haven System, the UCAF respond by attempting communication, the reply is. "_Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instruments."_ UCAF engages in space combat, the UCAF fleets are heavily armed and manage to fend the covenant off from taking the planet on several occasions; however planet side operations revealed heavy combat and action on the planet.

UCAF marine Mitchel Walker of the Marauders independent division is called in from his previous station in orbit aboard a UCAF cruiser to help in a classified mission.

18th of January the Spartan arrive on Prodigal Eta and encounters the Rey program and Dr Haley, the Dr requires to give all Spartans the armour Ascent units and then asks for assistance in evacuating all Rey units to escape craft in order to continue program, Rey Unit 201 is left behind and ordered to self-destruct once all UCAF ships escape, the unit complies and is killed in action, the first clone casualty of the war.

21st of January, Major Mitchel arrives in the Eastern Verge, he is ordered to aid in the location of a special forerunner beacon and is tasked in retrieving the technology to be sent to ONI Section III, his mission soon spirals out of control as the facility he enters is infested with a hostile parasitic entity known as the flood, his platoon is wiped out shortly and he and 3 others manage to reach the safety of the main complex, however surrounded by the flood and the covenant he soon finds no other option aside from sending the message and ending the facility, he activates a quantum purge inside the station core and sucks the station into oblivion with the flood and the covenant.

Through the rest of the year, the covenant press to engage the UCAF, battles prove to be highly costly on both sides as they are nearly equally matched, the covenant fleet masters agree to bring forth their finest commander, grand fleet overseer Tol'ree Moteree, the devised operation heralds the name of the first exalted crusade.

2526-2531

The UCAF lose over 200 light years and over 400 planets are either destroyed or rendered lifeless, more than 8 billion die within less than 5 years and over 1.9 billion soldiers of the marauders and reserve forces. The UCAF initiate military protocol and command, all military academies were to provide youths with military mandatory classes and training, all colonies were to have an immediate defence force in order to stop any chances of the colony's demise.

The UCAF military standing was at roughly 3 billion, with 175,000 available warships and vessels.

Spartan Beta begins the recruitment of more than 1500 new Spartans and advanced MKIV armour is placed into production.

2531-2540

UCAF casualties mount as the war progresses, the UCAF colonies are cut nearly finely in half at the middle of the Nova Stratus region, 490 light years had been lost, 29 billion had been killed and a million youth a day were being killed to fight the enemy covenant on the front lines. Child soldiers from ages up to 12-17 were being recruited near combat zones and guerrilla fighting becomes fierce in the region of the now known dead zone, the Daedalus Crusades.

2535 sees the change in the war as the MS program takes hold in the western regions and the eastern flanks, the UCAF begin a massive counter offensive using MS units. The war takes a significant turn, as also the UCAF brings forth the many new Spartan troops, the Beta program brings out over 2000 troops into the war and begins mass escalation in the war.

2539 brings out the covenant's own MS program to bear and the war begins to stagnate once more, the UCAF finds itself at a kill to death ratio of 1:7, the UCAF only suffering 1 for almost every 7 of the covenant's own. The war continues as it had until 2545…

2540-2551

UCAF begins the slow build up till operation Overlord to which the UCAF would spearhead a massive attack upon the covenant planetoid to kill and wipe out the hierarchs of Divine Resolve, the Spartans receive further upgrades and new forces appear. Covenant renegades begin to harbour support and the war takes a turn for change.

2545 brings into motion the massive assault, the UCAF bring to bear over 11,000 ships upon one of the 4 command planetoids of the covenant, the mass assault breaks the covenant grasp in a major sector and kills one of the prophets. Another flees into the depths of space and is pursued by the UCAF Spartan team Sigma.

Sigma encounters a forerunner planet in the unknown regions of Nova Stratus; the planet of Reverence's Grace is discovered. UCAF forces engage in battle with the covenant, and also locate the forerunner known as the Inheritor, his revelation of the human race and the forerunners changes the beliefs of the prophet of Amity who seeks to change the covenant, Amity vanishes from the Nova Stratus region and takes with him his most loyal troops in order to reform the covenant.

The prophet of Reverence takes his forces and steals the location to a forerunner ultra-dreadnought and begins to hunt for its location, the UCAF soon follow behind to deal with the rogue covenant leader and the covenant forces soon fall into civil war. All 3 planetoids are isolated however their forces manage to build a heavy resistance to the UCAF approach and the UCAF wait until the end of the hunt for the rogue prophet in order to regroup.

2550 the final battle rages after the discovery of the dreadnought Light of Grace, Himitsuki and his fellow Spartans of the specialist division of Alpha fight the covenant and the flood in the region and successfully eliminates the prophet and destroys the dreadnought in the process, Himitsuki and his forces are reported as MIA.

2551 at the end of the UCAFs decisive battle at Light of Grace the UCAF regroups to defeat the remaining covenant remnants scattered in the Nova Stratus region, the operation is declared Broken Dawn, and it is carried out by the UCAFs standing forces, a massive operation with over 3 billion troops assaulting the last factions of the covenant…

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CHAPTER 0: Breaking the Dawn

Humanity had done so much within its short time of existence, progressed so far, done so much to get to the point of space travel and colonise and expand beyond one world to the hundreds it now controls. However with progress came struggle and with struggle came conflict and bloodshed, mankind was not unfamiliar with war, and war has been a means of progress, but man had reached a point where peace was also possible, until it happened.

But truly man hasn't lost its roots, as the dawn of the 26th century came to be, war soon came to the steps of the UCAF as it progressed, not one of man, but of alien origins. The covenant declared war and begun a holy crusade against the human race, swearing to annihilate the human race, humanity countered and defended for as long as it could, and so our story takes place…

Date: 21/3/2551

The void was empty, a vacuum that seemed to be nothing but utter blackness, a deathly place where men dare not to step out and of course purely not wishing to suffer such a horrendous death. This emptiness was ever stretching, but not eternal. Bright lights came to life as explosions blossomed from weapons fire and countless weapons being fired at two titanic forces.

A UCAF cruiser bolted forwards with its massive guns filling the darkness with streams of light as it bludgeoned the covenant destroyers around it with relentless fire, one destroyer exploded in a vibrant purple and blue as its shields gave out and its core overloaded from damage to critical to repair. The UCAF cruiser continued on against the enemy fleet around it, firing guns as fast and as accurately as it could, mass drivers and rail batteries blowing chunks into covenant vessels nearby.

However the cruiser was in no better shape than the fleet it was beating to a pulp, large rents in its armour plating showed across its bow and stern from its prolonged battle. It was still going onwards when it took a burst of energy fire to its portside, metal melted from the intense strike as it blew it out. Men and machinery flew out into the void as it decompressed, the section was shortly sealed by energy shields as the ship continued fleeing from the battle.

Inside the cruiser men ran about carrying emergency containment gear and repair kits, and others missing limbs as the battle continued. However it was different for ground troops as they began bolting themselves down preparing for the near inevitable call, evacuation into the void, they'd be jettisoned into slip-space and hopefully picked up near friendly systems.

Marines of the UCAF got their gear secured into their pods and drop containers as they prepared for the jump, in the more elite forces, the UCAF helldivers prepared for their own drop. The helldivers were an elite force of the UCAF military, the highest specialty compared to that of the Spartans and ODSTs, they had some of the best gear and weapons, machines and whatever else they required to go fight the covenant, their unit had been immortalised as one of the most brutal classes of troops in human existence.

At this moment for the helldivers sat inside their pods relaxing and waiting for the coming order, inside one of these pods was Corporal Vance, the young 17 year old marine secured his gear before the others, it was a habit of his as he knew what to expect in certain battles, chances were that most space battles might have him jumping out in the pod, so he had things like this packed and ready, and this wasn't the first time this had happened, since he joined the main force 3 years ago he had been subjected to 4 other scenarios like this one.

So he prepared beforehand to get out and going. Grabbing hold of his HEV Javelin crash webbing he belted up, it was then that his CO arrived, Major Kyle, the long standing father like figure of Vance inquired into his situation.  
>"How're you holding up Corporal?"<p>

"Fine sir, how long until we get dropped?" He asked.

"Not long, the ship's going to make a quick pass around pretty soon, just be careful, well I don't really need to tell you that. Just make sure to get back into the fight soldier, you know what to do…" Kyle was cut off as the ship rocked and sparks burst just above him from the lights.

"Shit! All hands we're going for an early jump!" He yelled.

The marines acknowledged and brought their gear into work, they sealed their HEVs for the emergency drop, Vance didn't like the rush, but no point in thinking about it, and he grabbed hold as the pod was shot into slip-space. The initial burst from the thrusters and then the charge up from the fusion drive of his HEV pod as it prepared for the jump.

He could see the cruiser from outside, the massive lengths of it was now definitely compromised, rents as large as buildings ripped into the sides of the once proud cruiser as it slowly went into a death roll. He could see the other pods with the marines jumping into slip-space, as his reached maximum jump his pod shook violently as it hit something hard.

The pod began emergency sirens as the whole jump began to destabilise from whatever it struck, he could only brace as he was sucked into the tunnel of light.

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Time: 2281/2/3

Earth- North America- Mojave Desert- Goodsprings

In the quiet town of Goodsprings a local by the name of Pete went about his business, he had a nice stay at the Prospector but he needed to get going, Trudy was nice enough for him to get one drink in before turning in, he strolled along in the cold night towards his home, it was then that he took a good look into the skies above.

He noticed that there was a brilliant streak of light above, a shooting star, well he never guessed. He made a wish that there'd be someone else to come along into the town, it was kind of getting boring, he diminished the thought in a gaudy laugh at the silliness of such a wish, it was then that he looked back up to notice something rather odd.

The light wasn't streaking over the world, it was going downwards, and as he continued to watch he noticed that the projection seemed awfully like it was heading straight for him… The sharp roar of the object soon became very audible and Pete shouted in panic and ran back the other way, Trudy was about to turn in when Pete appeared shouting.

"What is it?" Trudy asked in confusion at the man's rambling.

"LIGHTS! STAR… ITS HEADED THIS WAY!" He started jabbing his finger at the sky.

"Pete I gave you one last drink on the house don't make me start pulling the rug from under your feet because you're…" It was then that Trudy looked to the skies and noticed the light.

"What in the name of…"

The sharp light came right down on the cross section of the town; Trudy and Pete were both knocked into the ground as the shockwave passed. The blast was so immense that it shook the town to its foundation; people started running out to see what had happened. Sunny popped out with her rifle and looked around for anything to shoot, Cheyenne her dog ran next to her in anticipation for action.

It was then Victor the local robot that came into view, he seemed perturbed at the sight of the odd impact and began fanning away the fire, the townsfolk didn't know what had gotten into the machine but it had suddenly taken an interest into the impact crater. It was then that the machine revealed a strange device, and suddenly the whole fire was covered in foam, the fire extinguished the machine began to examine the impact.

Trudy and Pete were also getting a good look at what was going on, they noticed that the local Securitron seemed to be digging away at the object. It was then that they finally saw what it was, the object looked metallic silver and grey plating shone from beneath the black ash covered outer layer. Victor pulled his arms to grab the outside of the metal object and then began to search for an opening; it found something as it then pulled a latch, the object hissed and then the front popped off in a crack of a small explosion.

It was now that everyone in town was at the sight of the crash, Mitchell the local doctor was present as Victor pulled someone out, and the town was shocked to see the armoured figure of a stranger getting pulled out of the crater by Victor, he went straight to Mitchell and laid the body down.

"Hey Doc, this fella's gonna need help."

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Stats:

Strength- 7 (10+ with suit)

Perception- 7 (10+ with TAC pad)

Endurance- 7 (10+ with suit)

Charisma- 7 (no bonus)

Intelligence- 8 (10+ neural interface)

Agility- 8 (10+ with suit)

Luck- 6 (no bonus)

The UCAF have to face enemies which are much stronger, and thus these stats are only just above normal for the average UCAF marine, compared to elites, such as elite Major Spec Ops Rangers who use jetpacks and a multitude of augmentations they are just on par with these classes. And there are many even more deadly classes of elites which can easily top an alliance helldiver with ease, so this is mild compared to some things that are in the Halo AU I've created.

And also for skills, I won't reveal the ones he does have.


	2. Chapter 2

CH2

Mojave Solstice

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The morning sun rose across the desert of the Mojave, winds whistled across this barren wasteland bringing with it the gusts of dusts across the hundreds of miles of sand and rock, shrubs which survived the years seemed peaceful, if not for the occasional animal or wastelander that may pass through.

From the barren sunbaked prior irradiated earth we arrive at the small town of Goodsprings, inside the house of a man named Dr Mitchells, he worked tentatively on the condition of the stranger who was now lying upon the bed in his home. The young man had been pulled from the pod that was now lying in the middle of town, it was amazing to find someone who could survive such an impact, his body should have been boiled inside of the pod from the heat alone, but it seemed like some sort of advanced material or shock absorbers had been installed inside to resist such factors.

Whatever the reasons for the survival of the boy, he was alive and in better health than any man alive, Mitchells had seen many things, and what was with this boy was that he possessed strength, good muscular build for a 17 year old. In terms of the young man's intelligence had yet to be seen, a quick psychological evaluation would have to be done before he made his decision.

For the marine in the bed, his day was just about to begin...

XXXXX

Vance felt his head clear up as he regained consciousness, he could hear the odd creaking of a fan overhead, which didn't make much sense as there hadn't been any ceiling fans except in old movies. He cracked his eyes open to be greeted by a dull light from just above, the room was dark, it was strange to be here, the air smelled like slightly decayed wood, his sense of smell was much higher of course, and thankfully his neural implants could regulate them, so he passed it off and then focused on his surroundings.

He attempted to get unto his sides and then was greeted by the face of a stranger; he was an old looking man, silvering moustache and hair, what was left of his hair at least. He seemed to be relieved that Vance was okay, at least from what Vance could read from his body language.  
>"Good to see you finally wake up; you took a damn impressive fall." The man said scratching some notes on a clipboard.<p>

"What happened? And where did all my gear go?" Vance said as he noted the missing MKV Vindicator armour.

"Your gear is on the dresser across the room you can retrieve it once I've completed my examination of you and properly evaluated you psychologically, it's just standard procedure." The old man replied.

"Okay, could I get your name then?" Vance asked.

"I'm Doctor Mitchells of Goodsprings you're our first guest in a while." The doc said.

"Good to know and I'm Corporal Vance of the 81st helldiver's division of the UCAF." Vance introduced.

The doctor perplexed, this was new.  
>"UCAF, 81st, umm I would know what to say about those things you just mentioned, as far as I've heard there was only the NCR and Caesar's legion…"<p>

"What?" Vance said in surprise.

"Yes, as far as I've known and probably many others here in the Mojave there's only been those two major powers in the Mojave and probably the strange Mr House in the Vegas strip." Doc Mitchells stated.

Vance ran through his neural commands and ran a proxy on his current whereabouts, the place soon came up with nothing, no UCAF signals, no UCAF emergency beacons, but there was a marker point, which made him realise that something else had made it with him, he'd have to go looking for it later. He cleared his head and found that Mitchells was looking at him with concern.

"You spaced out there fella, you sure you're okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine; I just was a little bit in shock." Vance replied.

"I can imagine, you did technically fall from the skies at some insane level of speed and whatever it is you came down here on." Mitchells said as he ticked off some more checkboxes and then began.

"Okay, this is a basic psychological examination; I've gone over everything I could possibly cover. SO let's just run you through this and I'll see you on your way." He said brining up a stand with what looked like ink blots, Vance identified that it was a Rorschach.

"All right. I'm going to say a word. I want you to say the first thing that comes to mind."

Vance nodded and the doc began.  
>"Dog."<p>

Vance replied. "Feed."

"House."

Vance responded with. "Renovate."

"Night."

Vance replied critically. "Dream."

"Bandit."

Vance replied immediately. "Vaporise."

"Light."

Vance responded thoughtfully. "Inspiration."

"Mother."

Vance paused and then replied. "Regret."

Doc Mitchells then went on. "Okay. Now I've got a few statements. I want you to tell me how much they sound like something you'd say."

"Conflict just ain't in my nature."

Vance replied with.  
>"I disagree respectfully." (+1 for martial honour if it was there)<p>

"I ain't given to relying on others for support."

Vance's response was.  
>"I'd have to agree on that."<p>

"I'm always fixing to be the centre of attention."

Vance thought that one through and replied.  
>"Disagree."<p>

"I'm slow to embrace new ideas."

Vance replied directly.  
>"Disagree."<p>

"I charge in to deal with my problems head-on."

Vance finished with.  
>"Strongly agree."<p>

Doc wrote down the details of Vance and his psychological status, which wasn't much of course. He then proceeded to go and bring the Rorschach forward and finally began the last questions.  
>"Almost done here. What do you say you have a look at this? Tell me what you see."<p>

The doc brought down the first ink blot and Vance examined it.  
>"A shadow in a doorframe."<br>The next ink blot came down and Vance observed the unique shape of it.  
>"I'm don't think it's appropriate to say what I see right now."<br>"Fair enough." The last ink blot image came down.  
>"A light in the darkness."<p>

The doc folded the Rorschach back up and moved it away.  
>"Okay, looks as if you're psychologically stable, I better not keep you waiting any longer, I'm sure you'd like to get going as soon as possible." Mitchells said as he opened up the dresser where Vance's gear was on.<p>

Vance got up and went over to the dresser and began to suit up. Doc Mitchells commented.  
>"That suit of yours is something impressive and terrifying I must admit, nothing like it any of us had ever seen. And of course the etched markings of that skull on the visor made many of us consider you possibly dangerous, but Victor was sure that you wouldn't do anything."<p>

"Who's Victor?" Vance asked getting his leg pads attached and his top torso Nano-weave skin suit secured to his body.

"Victor's our local robot, he's a Securitron, he seemed determined to get you out, he even carried you here with half the town following, it was a strange sight, usually Victor didn't do anything much but it around for a while outside of his shack. But this was the first time he actually interacted with the town." Mitchells said.

"Was Victor also the one who got me out of the suit?" Vance asked.

"Yes why?" Mitchells replied curiously.

"Just curious…" Vance replied getting his armoured shoulder guards attached.

Vance's helldiver armour is a MKV Vindicator class, it can be named differently according to altercations within designs, Vance decided to make his suit listed as an Impulse class suit, and the suit is rather light compared to many other variations, only due to his age he was issued with a suit that was about 3/4th the weight of the average helldiver armour, but he was still a helldiver.

The MKV impulse was stripped of any extra armour plating and given basic combat suit design for shock absorbing impacts, it was supposed to have a jetpack, stealth field and a hologram projector attached to the add-ons of the suit but it didn't he couldn't receive these additions since he just managed to get into the pod without them. He might find the additions if he could locate the source of the UCAF signal there might be extra gear left behind.

He latched on his last joints and then booted his suit. His neural interface ran a check on the BIOS and once the suit cleared the interface he got up and tested his movements and then went over to Doc Mitchells. He was standing at the door and was looking at the young marine with amazement.  
>"How can you move like that?"<p>

"I've had experience." Vance replied.

"Okay then, I might want to tell you before you leave, that if you need help with any aid, just come and see me, and Trudy, our unofficial mayor, if you'd consider her position would like to see you if you go along to the Prospector, it's the bar down by the main road." Mitchells said.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Vance said.

"So long boy." Mitchells said as Vance exited.

Vance's triangular helmet piece came down and filtered out the sun's blinding glare, he could see the sight before him, a place in ruins. Well somewhat intact except the few houses that looked like they'd be better off in a garbage compactor. He could see the destroyed homes and the standing ones which were slightly eroded.

Trees around here were dead, those which were still somewhat alive had things growing off of them, the grass around some places were patchy and other places barren, the whole area was strange. He hadn't been to any place that was much like this, and from what he could see, the place really wasn't like the UCAF, no colony was like this, mostly utilitarian in UCAF housing or Spartan in design.

He strode down the path to what had to be the most probable location for his crash site, the massive crater located in the centre of the town nearby two sturdy buildings that he could relate to an old Union film which was made in 2233 about colonials and the first settlers on many new worlds, they were like ranchers but even older in design.

He found that his crater had still some attention drawn to it, a young woman with a dog was standing at the crater looking at the outlines of his HEV, and what looked like another old man with working overalls picking his way through his a stick at the HEV pod as if it would catch on fire. A couple of other people who looked like they had something better to do were there as well, they stood there with what looked like a two headed cow.

As Vance reached the crater the woman who was standing there noticed him and said.  
>"Hold it. So you're our new arrival? You don't look like many other people who tend to pass through here, but then again, whoever else comes to Goodsprings, aside from the occasional trade caravan."<p>

She then introduced herself.  
>"Sorry about the rant. I'm Sunny Smiles, and welcome stranger, I guess you're here to grab your stuff?" She asked.<p>

"Yeah." Vance replied rather dully.

Sunny didn't seem to impressed that he was being so boring, but she'd rather not keep the man waiting. Vance went over to the side of his pod and opened it up, he found that no one had gone and touched his things, he began to remove his gear from the pod, ARs, pistols, ammo and plenty of explosives and survival equipment, he made sure to begin attaching his extra gear into place so he could leave more space to carry the other things in his inventory.

Knives and daggers, his wrist blades, grappling soles, LLV-G9 gear, and 8 rolls of M80 HE bayonet mines, TAC pad for his wrist, and of course not to forget the DS-VT Jetpack, he loaded his gear up and hefted what was supposed to be 240kgs of weight with ease. He just needed to locate someplace to drop all of his things at and prepare a private base of operations. It was a tactical choice considering that he hadn't many places to go to being new here. He decided to ask Sunny Smiles.

"Sunny, I'm curious, but you wouldn't happen to know of anything about accommodations here do you?" He asked.

"I wouldn't know, you'd have to ask about that with Trudy, she usually organises housing for people in Goodsprings, I'm just here as a guard, you can find her inside the bar." She said motioning to her shouldered rifle and holstered pistol.

"Thanks." Vance said as he went over to the Prospector.

The marine went to the Prospector while being eyed by the strange old man who started chatting about something behind his back. Upon entering into the Prospector Vance was greeted by an interesting sight, the interior of the building looked much older than the outside and even had what looked like decayed sections of wall hanging off. He could assume that there wasn't much to fix these buildings around Goodsprings.

He took a left into a bar where 4 people were present 2 at the counter and 1 at table drinking something while reading what looked like a book, or a scraped bit of paper put together. Aside from the patrons the bartender was at her radio banging on it to get it going.  
>"Son of a-."<p>

She paused at the sight of the helldiver and then recomposed herself to say.  
>"Welcome stranger, I don't know what to say aside from that."<p>

"Well I think it would be helpful if you could direct me to a place where I might be able to find some shelter. I'd like to lie low for a while, whilst I get my bearings." Vance replied.

"Well I guess there are a few places that you might be able to go. If you want to lie low, you can go to the abandoned shack at the outskirts of the town, but I want to warn you that there's a reason for it being abandoned, a lot of unfriendly things live near there, but if you want, you can take the place for yourself." She said.

"Any other locations?" He asked.

She put her hand on her chin and thought about what else he might want to know. "Well let's see, there's the cave near the town as well, but there's a radscorpion using it for a home, and then there's Victor's shack which is located on the other side of town. As far as a home, there's no place else." She finished with a shrug.

Vance nodded and replied.  
>"Thanks for the help. Before I go, is there anyone who might know anything about the region? I happen to be rather new here."<p>

"Well you can go see Sunny about experience in the wastes, she'll give you help on making local medicine and survival skills and a few hints on surviving out here, but you look like you could handle yourself." She replied.

"That's all I needed to know, I'll see you around." He said before departing.

Upon exiting the bar he found himself wondering where to go and what to do. He figured that he could speak to Sunny a little later; he had things to go get from his pod. He went over to the outskirts of town, he activated his TAC map. He found that the signal of the UCAF pod wasn't too far away, about 2kms from the west of the town near a small depression in the landscape.

He proceeded to get moving, he headed west exactly where he needed to go, he'd check out the abandoned shelter later, he had to find the drop pod. He set out across the barren desert of the Mojave. He wasn't sure, but he could recall something about this on the UCAF records of Earth, but this didn't look much like Earth that the UCAF had left over 300+ years ago.

He strode over a nearby hill and downwind to a number of dead trees and dry shrubs, he passed through without bothering to hide himself, he probably wouldn't have cared anyway, his armour was a dead giveaway without stealth fields. He was covered in dull grey and black armour with white stripes and a large triangle shaped pyramid visor which glowed in the sunlight.

He went in a straight line. It wasn't long before he bumped into something. As he travelled the distance to the signal, he found that he was rather alone, which made him wonder where the hell all the animals were, if this was anything like a normal M class world usually animals were present amongst the natural environment. Of course that might not have been true, so he just assumed that this wasn't a normal world.

And well as luck would have it, he did find something that he could tell was fauna, and rather aggressive towards him. He picked up the movement of 4 individuals on his sensors and then brought his AR carbine up as his computers marked them as hostiles. He began a search for the targets and found them, 4 large hog sized pink skinned mole like beings.

He couldn't tell what the hell they were, but they were closing the distance, Vance brought out his M5 hunting pistol and whipped it forwards and fired in 4 successive bursts, the corpse of all 4 rolled to the ground as they died. He stopped to examine his kills, but he decided that if anything else was out here, it would probably show up on his scanners.

He didn't holster his pistol; he kept it out and scanned for any other targets. He continued on the path to the UCAF signal, as he closed the distance to the signal he noticed a minor increase in activity, his HUD showed movement from around him, a few insects at a distance, and some feral dogs.

He kept moving until he reached the site of the signal, the drop pod was located exactly on his sensor inside the ditch. There wasn't much to be seen here, he dropped over a ledge of a small ridge to reach the drop pod. He found the area relatively barren; the fires created by the impact of the pod seemed to frighten most of the animals in the region away from the site.

He found the opening to the pod, the switch located on the outer hull next to the door controls; it seemed a little darkened from the re-entry but fine in all likeness. He hit the switch and lowered the front door down; inside he could see all that he needed. This was just like the Founding Day back at the colonies.

XXXXX

In a few hours he had begun to get his things from the pod, one warthog, one Racoon two wheeled assault bike and enough crates of ammo and spare materials to build a tank. There was also a MVF-Type 5 that had been left inside before the emergency drop. The equipment would help a lot for him in the long run.

He began to follow the directions given by Trudy; the Goodsprings cave wasn't far from where he was. He went to work and unpacked the Warthog and loaded up all of his supplies, he marked the location of the cave and kicked the warthog into action. The roar of the LRV soon filled the usually wind swept region; the hog kicked up dirt as it tore across the uneven earth and bounded towards the cave.

He ended up on the road for a short time before he stopped at the turn and turned towards a rather dubious looking rock face nearby; he stopped short by a few meters and then got out. He looked down at the entrance it was well hidden a few plants and rocks concealed the entrance; the only thing it didn't hide was the bodies that were at the cave mouth.

He pulled out an AA-S88, an 8 gauge auto shotgun, it wasn't usually a weapon that the UCAF allowed for the marines to use, but helldivers had full access to as many weapons as they wanted. The sturdy heavy 8 gauge shotgun felt even in his hands, no man would dare step into the way of this thing, unless you'd happen to be a covenant elite zealot or master combatant.

He loaded the 24 round drum and activated his visor screen to see what sort of scorpion he'd be faced with. Chances were it wasn't possible to be that big, he'd seen large animals before and it wasn't hard to take large animals down. Upon entering the dark cave he found himself stepping into a damp environment.

Moisture from nearby water sources seemed to have had an underground leak as the soak earth beneath his feet rippled from his steps. He hoped that the scorpion didn't hear him before even arrived. He listened carefully and heard chitter of something nearby; it was probably the scorpion as his designator labelled the being hostile.

It estimated that the scorpion was roughly 30 feet away, he crouched and then slowly turned the corner, he then saw what the scorpion was, and it was definitely large, 10 feet in length and had some rather fierce looking claws and one large stinger. He brought his shotgun to bear and fired in a quick 3 burst upon the scorpion, now the 8 gauge was enough to rip elites apart with ease, and this bug didn't have shields, the mess of the scorpion flew in all directions.

The scorpion exploded in a shower of gore as its tail flew apart from the rest of the body as limbs came off and the torso blew out. The size of the scorpion was about 1/3rd of its original size. The yellow coloured gore covered his visor; it was shortly followed by an auto micro wiper from the suit's computer which wiped off the mess.

He picked off the parts of the bug from his armour and began to examine the insect up closely, the thing was definitely a scorpion even the bio data on his computer identified it as a scorpion, but it also began a genetic scan of the material, and it compiled some side data while Vance began to clear the body of the scorpion out.

It took a few hours of work, but the cave was now cleared of any remains of the insect, there was no trace of the unfortunate bodies of its victims either, which would relieve the community of Goodsprings that they'd never have to face the menacing creature for the rest of their lives. Vance got to work on his new cave, and removed the cave fungus growing and dug out a place to put them, he left them in a box to grow and study at a later date.

In the meantime he unloaded his gear inside the cave and began to prepare a schematic of his base, he'd have to put walls up, probably from the drop-pod and the shuttle, he'd use whatever he needed to get his hands on to secure his base of operations. He got ready to head back to the drop pod to scavenge the pod itself to reinforce his new base.

XXXXX

Not long after getting the pod and disassembling it, Vance took all parts back to the cave, he had spent most of the day getting every piece he could and he had to admit it was a rather dubious task. The sheer size and components of the pod were hard to put into the warthog all at once so he made about 6 more trips before he had his things together.

Now building a construct inside of a cave was something he hadn't tried before, he had been shown how to construct basic fortifications and strategic positions and posts, but nothing like what he had in mind for something this size. He began by clearing the whole cave of stalactites and stalagmites. He didn't need anything to block his construction, as soon as he removed the obstructions he levelled the ground with crushed rocks and sand, he compressed them with a water and limestone mix that was available in the cave.

The damp ground wouldn't be too much trouble for Vance, the metal reinforced structure of the pod would be enough to layer the ground, and it was resistant to drops from orbit it was most likely going to survive water. Vance spent the afternoon and the night building his base, he set the sheets of iridium and titanium alloys and then used a plasma torch to weld them.

After completing his base Vance packed his equipment unto makeshift racks that he built himself and constructed rooms, he'd like his base to be able to house himself and others and possibly guests. The base was of basic construction, only lacking in certain areas that would make it a true base that he could be proud of. But that would have to wait; he checked his time and realized it was roughly 1AM he spent all of the evening constructing his home.

He went to the cave entrance and quickly finished some rather important details, he wanted his vehicle to get into the cave so he had drilled a large enough hole and placed a sliding square reinforced door to seal off entrance, but also as cover for the cave he built a dome of rocks into a mouth for an extended entrance, it would serve to conceal the actual entrance from outsiders.

Vance then finally decided to hit the sack. The cool night's air was refreshing but not the time for Vance to be waiting. Vance got inside and then sealed the doors shut and headed into his barracks and took up one of his beds, the warm gel layer blanket auto conditioned to keep at the body's exact comfort while the person slept.

Vance slept through the night wondering what the others were up to. He hadn't heard any other communications on his scanners except the radio stations of the locals, he had no interest into classical music of the dead age, some bands of the more rebellious and revolutionary musicians but nothing that was of true interest for him.

His mind drifted in between the lines of recollections of memories of a pleasant time and his life as a UCAF shock trooper and then helldiver. Then the war on his homeworld and the destruction of so much, he'd seen slaughters of whole colonies and vicious genocide of the human race at the hands of those with such self-determined belief that would wish to destroy everything in the name of god.

The very thought made his blood freeze and boil, he was still a UCAF shock trooper and he was still a solider and he was a helldiver from Callistan the blood born of Callistan would never break their vow, their sacred oath to bring end to such cruel ideologies in the name of self-interest and self-obsession and arrogance to others.

As much as he thought about it the more he realized, he was still fighting for something, and in this new place in this new world, he was going to do as he had done before. And with purpose he might find something worth fighting for, until he would be rescued or killed, it didn't matter, once a helldiver always a helldiver.

XXXXX

Once morning came, Vance woke as he normally would, ready to get into shape, he bounded outside of his bunk room and began warm ups inside the barracks. He stretched and jogged until he was well and truly awake. He then got into gear, starting up the basic controls of his suit he worked himself over and got to routine.

Getting his MREs out he fed on carb laden preserved food and starch just like every damned shock trooper loved about the morning before they began their patrols. Anyone else he would have commented this to out loud would have probably agree with him, life was hell out in the front, and here it seemed too peaceful, but looks can be deceiving.

He saw the scorpion and it made him wonder if anything else might be that big would be more challenging, if so then he'd be happy to go and blast he living crap out of it. He hurried over and gathered his guns; he loaded his AR, DMR, and M5 magnum. He made sure that he was ready for any task at hand.

He got into his warthog and opened up his cave, the entrance let him out into the Mojave wastes and he soon found himself ready to go on an adventure, or go into town and locate Sunny Smiles, Trudy had her reasons for telling him to go see her. He hit the accelerator and sent dust into the air; he makes sure that the doors close behind him as he drives off towards town.

Upon arriving in town the people were damned surprised, Trudy inside her bar hadn't ever heard of the roar of the engine of a vehicle as a matter of fact none of the people in town have. Except the old securitron, the machine had its optics upon the sight of the warthog LRV as it rolled into town at surprising speeds.

The people of Goodsprings come out to see for themselves what rolled into town, Sunny popped out thinking it was a raiding party of Fiends. But as they watched the dust cloud roll into town they covered themselves from the mini storm as it finally rolled in. The townspeople watched in surprise as the dust cleared, the armoured figure on the top stepped down and then asked.  
>"So what's there to do?" He asked cheerily.<p>

XXXXX

That's all folks, I've got too much damn things to get done and I've been sick with Golden Staph, it hurts people it really hurts. If there's any questions ask them later. Message me or comment, I really need ideas!


	3. Chapter 3

CH3

Sunsets and Sarsaparillas…

XXXXX

(Okay this will be the only update I can make at the moment I'll be back at a later date, I've got a lot of work to get done so please be patient.)

XXXXX

Vance's entrance was damned impressive, the people of Goodsprings hadn't seen such a vehicle in years, at least one that was in any sort of working condition or had a large mounted gun on the top. Vance stepped off to be greeted by Trudy who was still gawking at the vehicle.  
>"Where in this sunbaked pit did you get a vehicle?"<p>

"Air delivery…" He shrugged.

He got his weapons sorted and loaded his AR, DMR and two side arms. He got to Sunny who had finished looking at his vehicle and asked.  
>"So I guess you want to help out?"<p>

"If that's fine with you." He replied patting his M5 pistol.

"Right, well the only thing we need to do is keep the perimeter clear of predators, and also there was a few problems with geckos infesting the watering pumps between the source and the road, a good start would be there." She said loading her Varmint rifle.

"I'll follow you." He motioned to her.

She nodded and whistled to her dog, they got on the path down to the source, the warthog in town was safe, with over 3 primary safeties included there was almost no chance of them breaking into his vehicle or using the turret in a very long time, and also he had the keys. As they headed down the dirt path to the source Vance observed the surrounding area, his combat computer was busy taking combat IDs on everything around him, and it would categorize all hostiles in range and sort them accordingly.

"So stranger, have any intentions to stay in Goodsprings long?" Sunny asked.

"Maybe, I'll probably be coming and going in between priorities, I have to look for my comrades." He replied.

"Noble of you, but if they're out there then they'll probably be doing something either reckless or getting a lot of attention." She stated.

"Maybe, but if I know my allies, they'll be busy fortifying their positions and waiting for help." He replied.

As they reached a rocky outcropping at the bend of the first water pump, Sunny explained what they'd be up against.  
>"Okay, the geckoes are easy to handle, they tend to leave a lot of bites, not too hard to deal with, but if there are packs of them get back. And also, be careful of fire geckoes, they're much more dangerous." She advised.<p>

"Noted, but I think I can handle them." He assured her.

"Okay, do you want to take point?" She asked.

He pulled his M5 and locked a silencer and holosight, the invisible blue marker light was only visible to him, so he nodded and took point. He honestly couldn't imagine how much of a threat these geckoes could possibly prove, but he assumed that they'd be manageable or incredibly easy.  
>He took light steps out and got his visuals on the watering pump, there was 5 moving targets, and cold blooded images of the geckoes against the baking earth around them.<p>

He picked a target and fired, the M5 as much as it was a hunting pistol still technically fired a .45 tungsten tipped AP round, so the resounding splatter of the first gecko made the others jump back in surprise as their kin was obliterated by a silenced thud. The blood spray gave Vance to fire another 3 more shots and drop another 3 more, the last one was running around the corner to take a bite at him, but he dealt with it as soon as it stuck its head around the bend.

Sunny observed the sight, but was never able to keep up with the speed of Vance's trigger finger; he dropped the 5 within the span of 6 seconds. She stood there looking at the Helldiver as he stood back up and told her.  
>"All geckoes eliminated."<p>

"Good work, but man that's going to be one hell of a mess." She pointed out the amount of bloodied gecko corpses now littering the ground near the pump.

"Sorry about the mess, can't help it if the M5 is a bit blunt." He shrugged.

"That's fine as long as you don't put a hole through the pump its fine." She motioned to him to follow again.

This time they headed down to the next pump, it was a little rockier than the first area and it was located on the edge of a small rock face, Vance had to adjust for the increased elevation of the ground for all of his targets, it was an easy to rectify thing and just reloaded his mag. He paused once they arrived at the next well.

"Okay, considering how well of a job you've done, I guess you can take this one as well." She gestured.

He gave a curt bow and loaded a lighter round; the .45 hollow point ammo was something that Vance rarely used, only on unarmoured targets or for target practice. He stepped around the bend again, this time having to get closer on the geckoes, there were a total of 4 at this one and he got to work. Stepping around the bend he immediately unloaded 4 rounds at all 4 targets, they dropped in succession within moments of each other.

The 4 geckoes were eliminated again; he reloaded his M5 and examined the area, all headshots. Sunny came around again and whistled.  
>"Geez, that's effective."<p>

"I aim to impress." He gave a curt bow.

"Well if you keep this up you might put me out of the job." She joked.

"If so, then have no intentions to keep this job." He replied.

"Well the sources have been cleared here; I can check on the last one, can I trust you going around making sure that there are no coyotes and geckoes near the town along the north?" She asked.

"Sure, I'll keep it clean." He replied.

"Oh by the way, here's payment for helping out." She handed him a bag of what sounded like tin pieces.

He had no idea why she'd give him such a thing.  
>"Why did you give me tin scraps?" He asked in confusion.<p>

She laughed.  
>"Right you have no idea that this is currency, well this is your payment, these are bottlecaps, and they're our primary source of currency, aside from the NCR paper bills. This should help you with buying anything out in the wastes, and I doubt you can run on just what you have back at your home."<p>

He understood, the value of an economy was crucial to any civilisation, the UCAF ran on one as well, but they used holo-chips and data cards to procure any sort of product, and the fact that hard currency was actually in platinum slips. He took the bag and pocketed it, he had a feeling that he was going to need another means of keeping his entire inventory in place, and if only there was an adept he could get compression storage equipment.

He headed off north and spent the next 3 hours picking off coyotes and geckoes; he expended about 1 clip by the end of the patrol and found that there was nothing else to do. He headed back into town and located Sunny who had been surprised at how quickly he had managed to deal with the wildlife outside.

She paid him his last few caps and told him that he could take the rest of the day off; she'd be continuing the patrols. He understood and got back to his base, but arriving at his little cave, he found that there was a waiting visitor. The large screen of the securitron Victor greeted him cordially.  
>"Hey there, I've heard a lot bout you helping around. And I've come with a proposition here."<p>

"What sort of proposition?" He asked.

"I've got some reports from a source of mine, that there's been some trouble up on the road here, not long ago, some crooks broke from a prison up the road, they've been causing a mess o trouble, and my proposition is that you take care of them. A lot of caravans pass through here and if you could alleviate their problems, they'll be sure to thank yah kindly." He offered.

Vance thought it through, he could manage such a thing, and all he needed was locations, but also, intelligence of the area.  
>"Okay I'm game for a bit of bounty hunting, but I need to know what I'll be going up against first."<p>

"They call themselves powder gangers, they came around to work the quarries nearby, but then a few managed ta sneak some dynamite and blast their way out of the facility. They're causing trouble on the roads, their leader goes by the name Eddie, he holds himself up there at the NCR correctional facility, I'll mark it out for yah, but that ain't the only place they got themselves hold up." Victor updated his TAC pad and he located all zones to go to.

"Okay, I'll go out and do some work, I'll need to rearm, but you can count on me to deal with these people." He said checking all data provided.

"Thank yah kindly." Victor thanked and rolled off to town.

Unknowingly Vance hadn't realised that his mission was just a test. He trusted people on their words, at least some of the time, his suit was capable of going through people's vitals and he could determine if anyone was lying to him, he didn't test it on anyone in Goodsprings, and he couldn't test it on machines. So he accepted the mission and got onto getting his gear.

He decided not to bring the warthog; it would attract too much attention he decided to go on foot. He loaded a DMR, changed his AR for a SR, the Oracle Series SR-V10 was a light 45cal sniper rifle intended for scouting missions. The muzzle suppressors and silencer made it a perfect weapon to assassinate anyone without alerting the other powder gangers of his location.

A few flash grenades, a vapour grenade should help deal with them if they try to rush him, the acidic combination would burn their eyes for a while. He also took out a stealth cloak, added camouflage would be good for his bulky armour and it was rather easy to see his helmet if anyone shined a bright enough light on it.

He was squared away with all that he needed and got to work. He stepped out into the cold Mojave air and headed directly to the first powder gangers outpost. Victor took a spectator position just north of the camp on a high plateau to witness the efficiency of the helldiver; it would be a truly enlightening experience for House.

XXXXX

The first patrol of powder gangers left their usual position every hour, at times it was random, but they did occasionally go around checking the area by going on top of the ruined trailer and searching for any oncoming caravans. Today was a quiet day, no caravans in sight, but a lot of powder ganger activity, they had only just escaped from the correctional facility and thus it made for a very tense situation expecting an attack at any given moment by the NCR.

There was just one problem; the NCR wasn't the thing they had to fear. From across the road at Jean's Skydiving, the shadowed figure of Vance moved quickly along the road to the camp, it was hard to determine from the ground and Vance as he had activated his camo, the millions of nano mirrors activated and were busy reflecting everything around him, blending him into the wall.

He arrived at his position a demolished building across from the first camp; he could get heat sensors on 4 targets, human males, all 5'7 which was an oddity. He could see that they were busy eating dinner and drinking what he could tell was alcohol, there was only one man on duty sitting in a chair with a bottle in his hand and a pair of binoculars.

Vance got to work, he removed his DMR and got a clear angle at all members present, he wasn't sure if he was going to hit them yet, he hadn't confirmed if these men were even anything like Victor claimed, of course he didn't trust the machine, but he intended to figure it out. If there was an attack on a caravan or possible threat, he'd eliminate them immediately.

He didn't have long to wait, many powder gangers hadn't much to do aside from waiting all day, but the few caravans that did pass through they got to work on immediately. The guard at the top of the trailer looked through his pair of binoculars again, this time he could see something.  
>"Hey boys, look sharp looks like we've got fresh meat."<p>

The gangers got from their initial stupor of boredom, but got to their feet and got their hands on their weapons, a few batons and pistols as well as a rifle. Vance waited until they did something that validated his attack, as the caravan got closer, the head of the pack a man in his 20s with heavier looking body armour stepped out and waved to the caravan.

"Hey hold it!" He shouted as they got close.

There were 2 strange looking animals with packs on them, they looked like cattle with two heads, but ignoring the strangeness of such a creature he focused on the people of the caravan. There was a woman with a straw white hat that had a small red band on the top; she seemed to be carrying a few firearms and a knife. The next person was just armed in shoddy armour patched over her clothes, and the same went for the other two men, and the last looked like a doctor of sorts.

"Who the hell are you?" She tried.

"I'm the toll man lady, and guess what you ain't coming through unless you pay the toll, or my boys deal with you." He pointed to the 3 armed men standing over by the trailers.

"Look here scumbag, why the hell should I have to pay for getting across a freeway?" He sized him up.

"Why wouldn't you? This here is powder ganger territory and Eddie says no one's getting through without paying that toll." He replied.

"Well I don't have the caps." She said standing back in a snide fashion secretly reaching for her knife.

"Well then you ain't going through, unless of course you have some other means." He suggested.

"No you sick fucker you won't lay me." She said in disgust.

"Then get the fuck back where you came from bitch!" He shouted pointing back in the direction she came; he leant over enough for her.

She immediately pushed forwards and drove a knife into his gut, but as luck would have it for the woman, it missed his organs and only scraped across his stomach. The man reeled back in surprise and shouted.  
>"Shit!"<p>

Immediately the area lit up, the powder gangers waiting over by the trailer were taken aback by a moment and then sprang into action firing at the caravan. The fire soon drew out and they hit the ground shooting, the cows moved away from the fight, and then something happened. A ganger fired a flare into the night skies.

"Oh shit!" The woman shouted as she and he caravan pulled back to cover shooting back at the gangers.

Vance couldn't get a good shot, the woman tossed herself too close and now they were all getting into cover. The gangers had scattered making it hard for him to get a scope on any of them, 2 members of the gangers already wounded in the ensuing fight took cover inside the trailers, one with some explosives tossed it at the caravan, and it blew up short of their position.

But the fight that the gangers now put up was just a diversion, the flare they had sent up was a warning that their position was under attack. The road ahead was soon alive with movement, Vance got about half a dozen other heat signatures and sensor targets. He felt that this was going to be just one of those nights.

He finally got to work, he took an AP mag out and loaded it into his SR and took aim, using his heat visor he located the few gangers at the trailers and quickly eliminated them, the first took a bullet into the ribcage which exploded on impact, the next was hit in the jaw, the third was struck in between his lower abdomen and only lived long enough to see his stomach explode. The last was killed interestingly by a bullet from the caravan guards.

The group of gangers now down the road off by about 48 meters were in range of his grenades, he lobbed a single dispersal grenade to distract them while he picked them off. The silver canister of acidic smoke worked on the unprotected gangers and they began to choke on their own blood. Vance took this chance and rushed out the gangers, his M5 drawn he unloaded .45 hollow point ammo.

The bloodied pieces of the gangers hit the ground in a violent flash; they barely registered being hit before they died. Vance had calculated his kills, he had slaughtered a total of 6 men in about 8 seconds, and he didn't know if that was an improvement or if it required finer tuning. He didn't care at this point in time, he had confirmed that the gangers were extortionists and openly hostile.

As soon as he compiled his assessment of the powder gangers he turned his attention to the caravan that had arrived. The group was in one piece, it looked as if one or two were injured but nothing seriously, he walked over to get a closer observation. As he did so, the woman who led the group greeted him.  
>"What the hell are you?" She asked him.<p>

"I'm just a ghost…" He replied.

"One hell of a ghost you turned out to be, do you always go around and save caravans?" She inquired.

"Do you always question those who simply come to your aid?" He replied.

"Look buddy, no one comes around and does things for free, if you are, then I'll be damned." She told him.

"I've actually been tasked with eliminating any powder gangers on this road. I guess you just got lucky." He replied.

"Yeah great luck, getting stuck on this fucking road that's filled with lethal animals and jackass fucking gangers." She rolled her eyes.

"I'll deal with the gangers, and as for the road ahead, consider it a favour, but I'd like for you to do one thing for me." He offered.

"What would that be?" She asked with a raised brow.

"I'd like for you to spread word that I patrol this road, if anyone tries to extort under my watch they'll regret it." He told her before his mask turned on.

The primary thing about the helldivers suggests within their names, they have marked combat helmets with skulls, and more frightening was the ability to make an afterimage to confuse enemies. This sure scared the shit out of the woman as Vance vanished into thin air, she waved around but found he had dematerialised.

"What the fuck was that about?" One caravan guard asked her.

"I think our luck just changed." She replied.

Vance was doing this out of the bottom of his heart, killing low life scumbags for some traders. Instilling fear is a good way to make anyone second guess some actions, his method would work in a much brutal fashion of leaving corpses on the side of the road, and a clear message to anyone. If this caravan made it to its destination then the message would spread about him.

He liked a good challenge anyway. His next target was a group of powder gangers which had gone to search for the others; he disposed of them in rapid succession in front of the caravan, and then came the following pickets and watchers. They were felled by him in moments; he cleared a route all the way to the small mining town of Sloan which hadn't seem trade in a while and were happy to see the first caravan.

As for the caravan it wasn't finished on its trail, but its leader asked to send a message to all who lived in the Mojave, a Ghost now patrolled the wasteland.

XXXXX

Vance arrived back at his base and was greeted by Victor.  
>"Congratulations fella, you've done a terrific job, here's your reward."<p>

The machine deposited a large can of caps to him, and continued on.  
>"You've made quite an impression on the wastes; you might want to hear it on the radio." Victor suggested before heading back to Goodsprings.<p>

Vance decided to oblige the machine, he tuned into the Mr New Vegas show.  
>"-Thank you Bing Crosby… Welcome back to the Mr New Vegas show, and I'm your host Mr New Vegas, time for some news. Breaking headlines, there's been a report from the small mining town of Sloan along the I-15, that a mysterious spirit is haunting the roads, he calls himself Ghost. Sloan reported that this Ghost appeared protecting a caravan, more precisely Cassidy Caravans as it made its way from Mojave outpost, the members were attacked by Powder Gangers recently escaped from the NCR correctional facility, and that all gangers were slaughtered by this spectre of justice. But before this spectre vanished, it told Cassidy. "I roam these roads, and my only duty is to protect them from scum." Well ain't that something? The Mojave is filled with strange new things."<p>

Vance turned his radio off; he felt that his work in this desert was going to increase.

XXXXX

He stumbled back into this bed and lay down on the soft gel bed and slept until noon. He continued to rest until he got out of bed and began to hear something on his TAC pad; he brought his arm up and saw something on his list. There was a UCAF signal; it was faint, about 20 kilometres from his position. He kicked into action.

He rushed over to get his gear on and prepped his suit, this was great news for him, and if a UCAF signal was out in the wastes it meant that he had support. Bring them together would improve the UCAF's chances of survival, assuming that this was an actual member of his force, and if he found more than just one person.

He got into his warthog and exited the cave, his armour didn't need the camo, the sun was blazing brightly, and it would be pointless to overheat the thin layer cloak. As he pulled out of the cave, he tried to search for the source of the signal, it was faint, making it annoying to isolate, he located the possibly location roughly north east of him.

He drove unto the broken road and began his journey, he drove down to the former outposts of the powder gangers, it seemed that they had picked out corpses and bodies before loading them in pits on the side of the road and taking shelter back at their base. Of course after his stunt, they'd rather not risk losing more people to a phantom of the roads.

He laughed at the thought, the covenant shared similar sentiments, at least until their CO reorganised them and began to counterattack. He headed on through to Sloan, where he surprised the miners watching absent surprise at the large vehicle speeding by quickly. Now if they reported this, people would be calling them batshit crazy.

Vance travelled the distance between Sloan and what his TAC pad identified as REPCONN HQ, he didn't bother to stick around, he identified a bunch of mechanised drones, he noted to keep an eye out on them. He continued on his trip, it was about 3 in the afternoon, when the signal got stronger, he had spent a while wandering up and down a road near another location called Trading Post 188.

He decided to head further north, it was then that he got closer to the signal. He located it at a stopping point along the road; it looked like a rest stop for people heading to outer Vegas. But the signal was coming from there alright, he just wondered exactly why? He arrived in a trail of dust and parked parallel to the rest stop.

Of course the owners of the small rest stop were both surprised, they hadn't seen a vehicle let alone face one, Vance stepped off and greeted them.  
>"Hello, I'm just dropping in, I'm curious but do you happen to know about a mysterious signal coming from one of your shacks?"<p>

"One of our shacks?" Said a middle aged man.

He looked around carefully and answered.  
>"Look fella, there's me and Lupe here, we try keep to ourselves, but if you're here for, 'him'. You can knock on his door and send the code word to him. He's in the largest shack."<p>

Vance suddenly got the feeling that he knew that these people had contact with UCAF; they got back to their small stall shops and let Vance head to the largest shack. The sign was indistinguishable, 'Sunset Solstice BBQ', for Vance this was rather obvious who he'd be meeting. He just hoped that it wasn't going to end like last time.

He knocked on the shack door, which was surprisingly sturdy; he made a quick examination and determined the shack was a concealed UCAF drop pod, which only confirmed it. The person inside was most likely from the ship, and it was either one eccentric fellow he knew, or the other more renowned swordsman he knew.

"Who's there?" The person asked.

"Sierra 44-3245, Corporal Vance, Helldivers 81st." He replied.

"Great you've taken your sweet fucking time." And that was enough to tell him it was the swordsman.

The door opened and Vance stepped in. The door closed behind him and he came face to face with the younger marine, he had short curly brown hair a rather skinny looking complexion, lightly tanned skin, green eyes and he was about 5'5ft. He greeted him.  
>"Vance, it's been a while man."<p>

The inside of the makeshift shop and house was warm, it seemed that the AC and AF had failed or were off, the place wasn't a real mess, just the home part of the shop. There were tables and appliances plates and the corner where a dishwasher was.  
>"Yeah and it seems nothing's changed, how have you been Jordan?"<p>

"Couldn't be much better, I've been here for about the past 4 weeks." He replied getting himself some more plates out.

"Wait you've been here for a month?" Vance said.

"Yeah, it seems that our drop in from slip-space fucked up and we got separated over time distortions, as far as I can tell, you've arrived 1 month later than me, and the others probably all over the place." He said examining some sharpened knives.

"What the hell have you been up to?" Vance asked gesturing to the knives.

"As per usual man, cooking, people haven't tasted the Mojave until they've gotten to me, and I've done pretty well. Have to run a tight shop, I've got lots of customers, and I've made more than my fair share thanks to my restaurant." He said getting the corner stoves ready.

"But Jordan you must have seen the others." Vance said.

"I did at least Mitch and Kobe, but they've gone off to the North of here, I haven't seen them since, there were reported impacts but after that, they didn't comeback. As far as I've been able to tell, no one has confirmed their deaths so it's likely they're stuck dealing with some other problem." Jordan said getting his cooking utensils out.

"But why are you still here?" Vance inquired.

"Being a chef is hard to kill Vance, the love of food takes you places, and I guess it ended up here. I won't stay, but I'll provide you with the necessary money to use in case of any monetary issues." He offered.

"That'd be fine, I'm not too sure how currency works to well for me." He shrugged.

"Understandable, the UCAF doesn't give helldivers much to live off anyway." He joked.

"So, are you going to just stick around here for the next few months?" He asked.

"Probably, I've got regular trade here and a lot of traffic, people come here to get good grub without the ridiculous prices of the Brahmin baron, that jackass over in Vegas really knows how to piss people off." He stated setting up tables.

"Need anything done?" Vance asked.

"Dunno, if you can provide me with Big Horner meat that'd be fine, I can earn more off of local meat for free rather than having to deal with the expenses of the random traders that come through." He offered.

"I'll see what I can do. But I need to ask, how the hell did you end up here?" Vance asked.

"Long story short, let's just say things got hectic. I got through the atmosphere, but the pods primary flight failed so I used manual navigation, I landed outside in the far outskirts of Vegas, and it was right where a hostile patrol of slavers came around. Or at least I think they were slavers, they had black armour and red clothes, and they got to the pod and attempted to seize it from me. And then I kick the living shit out of all of them and got on my merry way, their bosses weren't too happy with me beating the shit out of them, so they offered a bounty. I made my way here and Fritz and Lupe helped me hide here from anymore possible threats." He finished.

The doors to the shop soon unlocked and the lights inside and outside went live.  
>"Oh damn, sorry man, I've got to get to work, I'll speak to you later." He said offering for him to take a seat.<p>

The diner was packed in moments; Vance had to sit inside the kitchen space as many patrons arrived to feast off of Jordan's culinary skills. Jordan sure hadn't changed, if anything he liked being here. Vance had a feeling that this was going to be a long night.

(Out of time.)


End file.
